Striking dockworkers have shut down seaports along the East and Gulf Coasts, impacting ports that handle around 40% of the nation’s agricultural exports. 

The closed ports could also impact shipments of farm machinery, delaying repairs and new equipment headed for Midwest farmers. 

On Tuesday, more than 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association began a work stoppage in an effort to negotiate higher wages. 

“Nothing is going to move without us,” Harold Daggett, the head of the union, told dockworkers at the New York-New Jersey port.

Federal officials have downplayed the immediate impact on consumers and said some shipments have already been rerouted to ports on the West Coast. 

“Our analysis shows we should not expect significant changes to food prices or availability in the near term,” the USDA said in a statement, referring mainly to the import of food products. 

However, around 20% of U.S. agriculture is exported to other countries, and nearly half of those exports move through ports closed due to the work stoppage.

The busiest agriculture export ports currently closed include New Orleans, Houston, Savannah and Norfolk. 

The biggest export out of impacted ports is soybeans and grain, with much of it headed to China. 

“This could cause a real backup, particularly hurtful because it is harvest season and we need to be moving this grain,” said John Jenkinson, an agriculture analysis with the KSN news service in Kansas.

However, some bulk commodities are less likely to be affected because they are loaded onto ships, not containers, from non-unionized facilities, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute, or IFPRI.

"Most agricultural imports and exports transiting through ports on the East Coast are containerized and are to be affected, while Gulf Coast ports handle more bulk commodities (particularly on the export side) and may be less impacted, " stated a recent IFPRI report. "For example, of the $16.8 billion in agricultural exports transiting through New Orleans in 2023, only $700 million was in containers."

But containerized goods still make up a sizable amount of U.S. agriculture exports.

For example, nearly 2 million metric tons of containerized agriculture exports were shipped to China last year from East and Gulf Coast ports, according to USDA figures.

While large nations, like China, may be able to buy food for other countries or reroute shipments, smaller countries will be hit harder. Around 85% of Puerto Rico's food supply comes from the U.S., with most of it passing through currently closed ports.

The inability to ship some agriculture products out of the country could hit farmers already dealing low commodity challenges and weather-related shipping problems, said the National Grain and Feed Association.

Along with 200 other organizations, the NGFA wrote a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to urge both sides of the strike to find an agreement. The letter also highlighted current rail capacity issues and low water levels along the Mississippi River.

"These transportation issues are exacerbating the situation," the letter stated.

While some farmer profits are tied to exports, the ability to repair broken tractors and combines can be challenged by import delays at closed ports.

The Port of Baltimore handled 1.3 million tons of farm machinery and construction equipment last year, the most of any port. A prolonged closure could mean a delay in the shipment of tractors and combines, along with the parts needed to fix those machines.

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